WASHINGTON – The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
announced today that on May 29, 1998, it filed an eight-count complaint in
the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, South Bend
Division, seeking emergency relief against six defendants charged with
violating the anti-fraud provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and
CFTC regulations. The defendants named are: Steven D. Hudkins (of
Elkhart, Indiana), Carmen J. Field (of South Bend, Indiana), Mona
L. Smith (of South Bend, Indiana), Market Capital Growth, Inc.
(of Elkhart, Indiana), Bart BeMiller (of Wakarusa, Indiana) and
Robert J. Riethman (of Fishers, Indiana). Hudkins, Field, and Smith
were also alleged to have done business under the name HFI.

On June 3, 1998, the Honorable Judge Allen Sharp entered a statutory
restraining order freezing the assets of defendants Hudkins, Field, Smith,
and Market Capital Growth, Inc. The court also entered an order prohibiting
all of the defendants from destroying any of their books and records and
requiring them to make their books and records available for inspection and
copying by the CFTC. Judge Sharp referred this matter to the Honorable
Robin D. Pierce, U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Indiana
for a hearing on a preliminary injunction. Judge Pierce set the hearing
date for June 23, 1998, at 9:30 am.

CFTC Alleges that the Defendants Defrauded More than 135 Investors in
Indiana

and Elsewhere Who Had Invested More Than $2.28 Million in Two
Commodity Pools

In the complaint, the CFTC alleges that the defendants defrauded more
than 135 investors in Indiana and elsewhere who had invested more than
$2.28 million in two commodity pools during a six-year period. The
complaint charges that in operating these pools, one from at least 1992
through the present, and the other from 1992 - 1995, the defendants
violated the CEA by, among other things:

-- misappropriating funds received from investors;

-- representing to investors that their funds would be used only to
trade commodities, when they were used for non-authorized expenses of the
pools;

-- misrepresenting the trading experience of the individual who made
the investment decisions for the pools and the trading record of the
pools; and

-- issuing false account statements to investors, which showed that
their investments were profitable, when they were not.

In addition, the complaint charges that the defendants violated CFTC
regulations by not operating their commodity pools as entities separate
from that of the pool operator, by commingling the assets of each of the
pools with the assets of the defendants, and failing to provide proper
disclosures to investors before they invested in one of the pools. Hudkins
was charged with acting as a commodity trading advisor without being
registered with the CFTC. Four defendants, Hudkins, Field, BeMiller and
Market Capital Growth, were charged with operating a commodity pool without
being registered with the CFTC, and Smith and Riethman were charged with
operating as associated persons of commodity pool operators without being
registered with the CFTC.

The complaint asks the court to enjoin each defendant from further
violations of the CEA and CFTC regulations, and seeks disgorgement of all
benefits received, restitution to the defrauded investors, and civil
monetary penalties.

The CFTC appreciates the cooperation of the State of Indiana Department
of Securities in this investigation.